


If It Wasn't For You - The Deleted Scenes

by Ultra



Series: If It Wasn't For You [2]
Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Flirting, Developing Relationship, Epic, F/M, Falling In Love, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Father Figures, Father-Daughter Relationship, Friendship/Love, Future Fic, Gen, Love, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Relationship(s), Talking, Teen Romance, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-08-11
Packaged: 2019-08-23 07:03:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16614194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: The 'missing scenes' from 'If It Wasn't For You', including how Mac & Dick actually got together, how Amy met Leo in the first place, and what Mr Clemmons said to TJ about her fame, plus LoVe, and much more.





	1. When Mac & Dick Got Serious (between Chapter 23 & Chapter 24)

When Mac drove a semi-drunk Dick back to his mansion-like home, she had meant what she said about the two of them talking things through. Of course, it was kind of difficult not to let her mind wander to the last time she was in this house. They walked in with his arm around her shoulders and hers around his waist, leaning on each other. The feel of his body against hers was doing nothing for Mac’s self-control, though the smell of scotch and coffee on his breath dampened her ardour considerably.

“Hey, honey. We’re home!” Dick laughed as he turned them both in a circle around the entrance way.

It was a move he immediately regretted as he staggered some and took Mac with him. They landed in an ungraceful heap on the bottom step, and had soon righted themselves next to each other. Here was fine with Mac. Most of the staff had gone to bed, it was unlikely they’d be interrupted, and so long as they were a fair distance from the bedroom, she couldn’t let Dick seduce her too easily. He had a way with her lately, and she couldn’t give in until they figured out a proper way forward with this quasi-relationship of theirs.

“So,” she said at length.

“So... you said we had to talk,” replied Dick, looking sideways at her through his unruly blond bangs. “I have a question - why’d you avoid me all day?”

Mac opened her mouth to reply and closed it again fast. She ought to have known this was coming, after all, she was the one who said they should talk about their relationship. She was also the one who behaved like a child today, running away when in fact she should have faced up to her actions with Dick.

“I guess if I’m honest...” she said eventually. “I guess I was scared.”

“Of me?” asked Dick immediately, getting her attention up from the floor in an instant.

“Why would I be scared of you?” she asked him, shaking her head to prove that was not the case at all. “You’re one of the least scary guys I know, Dick,” she promised him. “What scares me is... is what I could feel. What this thing between us could really mean.”

Dick couldn’t say he truly understood what she was getting at. The coffee she made him drink had only slightly lessened the effects of the alcohol, and the caffeine had his brain buzzing a little too much. All in all he wasn’t thinking so very clearly, and in all honesty, he wasn’t the smartest guy with relationships even when he was fully compus mentus.

“I don’t know what we could be or whatever,” he admitted. “All I do know for sure is that you’re one of the coolest women I ever knew my whole life, and a part of me has been waiting, pretty much since college, for something to happen with us.”

It was one of the most serious and sincere speeches she ever heard him give, and Mac was a little stunned. Her eyes were locked onto Dick’s own and she genuinely didn’t know what to say for a full minute.

Apparently, Dick had known since college they were destined somehow, whilst Mac had been sure he was still a jackass back then. Of course, they did have a connection ever since graduation. They both knew what it was to love and hate Cassidy in equal measure, and struggle with balancing out those emotions. The thought of sweet little Beaver who had turned out to be so evil on the inside caused a frown to settle on her face, a look that Dick read all wrong.

“You don’t feel that way about me,” he said sadly, moving to stand up.

Mac scrambled to catch him, grabbing at his arm as she got up too. Her grip on his sleeve made him turn, and then she was dragging his head down to meet hers and kissing him long and hard on the lips. She was such a fool, that was all Mac could think as she continued to kiss Dick and enjoyed the fact he was kissing back. They came here to talk and that mattered, she couldn’t just let it become another night of physical attraction and empty passion, if that was truly what it had ever been with them.

“I don’t wanna feel bad about this, Macky,” said Dick when they parted from their kiss but not from each others arms. “It’s been so long and we’re both cool with what we’re doing and everything, right?” he continued, his forehead resting against her own, his tone just begging her to agree.

“I know.” She nodded awkwardly against him. “It’s just so weird. I mean, we’re not kids anymore, Dick.”

“Well, we didn’t get along so well when we were in school,” he considered. “I was too stupid to realise how cool you were, until after... He did one thing right, Macky. He made me see you.”

Mac wanted to cry. Partly it was because he brought up Cassidy, and partly because Dick was just being so sweet in his own unique way. She wanted to be with this man, more than she ever knew she could want to be with anyone. It wasn’t just about the sex, although it had been fantastic. She loved him already, and being in love with him was just a tiny side step away. 

“So,” she forced out, swallowing down the lump in her throat. “You wanna do this? I mean, actually try being a couple, for real?”

“So. Totally. Do.” he told her, punctuating each word with a kiss on her lips.

She giggled in a ridiculously girlish way, that Mac felt really wasn’t like her at all, or maybe it was just like the her she wanted to be, the version of herself that Dick brought out. This time, she initiated the kiss, not caring anymore that he tasted like booze and coffee. They came back here to talk and that’s what they had done. Nobody said that after the talk was done, they couldn’t revisit the bedroom, right?


	2. Amy & Leo at the Press Conference (before & during Chapter 25)

Amy stared at the phone in her hand and contemplated it way too long. The whole Echolls house was currently in uproar. There was a room full of press waiting for Logan to make the announcement about T.J. The girl herself was huddled in another room on the other side of the house with her Mom, waiting for the world to find out she was the daughter of a movie-star. The poor kid was so freaked out, and Amy could understand why. Still, T.J. wasn’t the only person on the assistant’s mind.

“C’mon, Summers. Make a choice,” she said to herself, out of the earshot of anyone who might care what she was doing.

All of a sudden she was dialling, listening to the phone ring, once, twice...

“Sheriff D’Amato,” said Leo the moment he picked up his private line.

“Leo, hi,” she replied with a forced smile, glad he couldn’t see the expression.

There were very few people who had this number; Veronica, T.J., the mayor. Those were the three most likely candidates. The voice Leo actually heard came as quite a surprise.

“Amy?” he guessed, sure it was her since he could think of no other possible candidate.

He had no idea the genuine grin that came to her face when she heard him say her name. Leo could identify her by her voice already, she kind of liked that. Of course it wasn’t the point at all right now.

“Yes, that would be me,” she said quickly. “Um, I know I probably shouldn’t be doing this, or maybe I should, I don’t know,” she rambled some, the same thing she always did when she got nervous. “The fact is, well, I just feel that you ought to know, we’re having a press conference over here. There’s been some developments and Logan was really left with no choice.”

“What’s the press conference for, Amy?” asked Leo, already sure he knew but unable to breath until she confirmed his fears.

“Logan is going to introduce T.J. to the world as his daughter,” she said all in a rush, then waited a beat before continuing more reasonably. “She’s freaking out a lot. Veronica is here, of course, but it’s such a big deal for the both of them, and I just think... I think maybe they need you.”

There was silence for just a few seconds before suddenly Leo spoke, just when Amy was about to ask if he was even still there.

“I’m on my way.”

* * *

Amy had decided she was perfectly right in getting Leo over to the house when she let him into the room and watched T.J. throw herself into the arms of her ‘Daddy’. A moment before, she actually began doubting her own good sense. Logan probably wouldn’t like knowing his supposed love rival was here. On top of that, Amy felt a flash of green go through her when Veronica hugged Leo to her and professed to be so glad he was there. However, she allowed herself small smile when the two had a moment of icy glares over his not being informed of what was happening by Veronica herself.

When the older woman turned her glare on Amy though, the assistant had scrambled for cover. Best to stay on the right side of the woman who might yet be her boss’ wife one day. Stranger things had certainly happened.

Busying herself with keeping eyes and ears on the press, the security, and of course Logan himself, Amy was suitably distracted until the moment father and daughter must go before their audience. The movie-star himself stepped out to begin his speech and Amy put her arm around T.J.’s shoulders.

“You’ll be fine, sweetie,” she promised her with a genuine smile. “Just breathe,” she told her, much as Logan had before.

A minute or so later, Amy opened the door and ushered her young charge through, wishing her luck, for all the good it would do. She slunk back out of the way then, allowing Veronica and Leo to keep watch over their daughter.

They were an awkward ex-couple, Amy thought, as she observed them from behind. Leo stood close to Veronica but neither offered a hand to hold or a shoulder to lean on. Divorce could be rough, Amy knew that first hand from her parents, but she actually thought maybe it was harder when the former husband and wife remained friends. Being mad at someone all the time, it had to be that much simpler than loving them but not enough to make a marriage work. Worse than that, she supposed, was holding a candle for an ex who just got her true love back in her life.

Lo and behold, Logan announced Veronica as T.J.’s mother, and not only that but the love of his life. Amy winced, sure that would hurt Leo to hear. Logan still loved Veronica and it seemed to her that it was a pretty fair bet the blonde in question felt the same. When the Sheriff turned away from the scene, he had few choices for his eyes to focus on, and so they came to rest on Amy. She offered him a smile and he made a token effort to return it - it really didn’t come off.

“You okay?” she mouthed to him, pleased enough when he crossed the room to her side.

“I never got a chance to say this, but thank you, Amy,” he told her genuinely. “In answer to your question, not so much,” he shook his head. “But today really isn’t about me. I got to be here when T.J. really needed me, and that was nice... especially since it might just be the last time,” he sighed, looking back over his shoulder as another bout of laughter rang out through the press conference.

“I’m sorry,” said Amy, catching his attention again.

“For what?” he checked, sure she couldn’t mean for calling him since he already told her he was grateful.

“Honestly? I’m not even sure,” she laughed openly at her own stupidity a moment. “I just know I look at you right now and I feel like I should apologise. For being here? For being Logan’s assistant? I really don’t know.”

“None of this is your fault, Amy,” he told her with a kind smile. “It’s honestly not even Logan’s really. In fact, it’s mostly mine, and I have to learn to live with that,” he sighed heavily.

Amy leaned back against the wall, hugging her tablet to her chest. Veronica Mars seemed like such a fool to her. There was nothing wrong with Logan, not at all, but to give up on a marriage to a guy like Leo, Amy couldn’t understand it. He just seemed so decent, so nice and kind, not to mention ridiculously hot. He brought up another man’s child knowing the truth of it, he was practically a saint for that, Amy would have said.

“Thanks again for calling me, Amy,” he repeated as he glanced back at her, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “It means a lot.”

The next moment he was gone and Amy was hearing yelling in her ear that required her attention. Still, everything she did for fully ten minutes after, she did with the biggest grin on her face, and refused to tell anyone why.


	3. Sam & Connor meet at Logan’s house (during the time lapse between Chapters 33 & 34)

It wasn’t easy getting over a first major crush. Sam was learning that the hard way since Logan Echolls arrived in town. It was so easy to love him from afar, but she knew how uncomfortable it made T.J. since they discovered Logan was her father. Sam wanted to make an effort not to have her BFF feel bad, she really did, but it just wasn’t easy. Logan was so hot and so cool, and all the temperatures in between! He was the greatest actor, and he so didn’t look his age, even close up. It was tough on Sam as much as it was tough on T.J., she was certain of it, and yet she tried not to bring it up with her friend. They were so close, like sisters really... which would make Logan her Dad too if Sam thought on it, and then she wanted to throw up, so she stopped.

Today Sam was headed over to the Echolls house for dinner. She had to get her Dad to drop her off, since her Mom would be all over Logan like a rash - that would be so embarrassing! Mr Harper got to the gates and let Sam out of the car, proclaiming her to be a big girl who could handle it from here. He seemed completely unaffected by the fame and fortune of Logan Echolls, but Sam didn’t wonder at it. Her father was just so down to Earth that way. Her life might be easier if she weren’t so easily dazzled by stars, but people were as they were and there was no changing it.

The main problem Sam had, she realised as she thanked her Dad for the ride and watched him drive away, was that there were just no guys in Neptune that appealed to her. The boys in school were just that - boys! They were so immature and she couldn’t handle it. She wanted a real man, like Logan, even though she knew she could never be with him now, not least because he was T.J.’s Dad. The fact he was completely still in love with Veronica didn’t help either.

Walking up to the security system by the gate, Sam pushed the buzzer and waited. The moment someone answered she smiled down the camera lens.

“Hey, it’s Sam.” 

“Who?” asked the guy on the other end of the feed.

“Sam. Samantha Harper,” she spelled it out as if talking to a five year old. “I come here almost every week with my best friend, T.J., daughter of your boss?” 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” came the quick apology, before Sam heard a fumbling and then a crash.

The gates opened with a buzz and a clank, and she walked through, wondering what on Earth was going on with the security today. Usually it was one of two guys operating the gates and they both knew her. She was a regular visitor after all, her name and picture had to be on some kind of safe list, right? It made no sense, plus the guy who answered her sounded totally young. Bob and Doug who usually worked the entrance were easily fifty a piece if they were a day.

When Sam reached the front door, she thought she was going to have to knock, which was also weird. Usually once they let you in the gate, security made sure the front door was open and in you went. Today she was all the way to the door and getting bored enough to knock herself when it finally opened.

“About time,” she grumbled, tripping on her heels as she came through the door.

Strong arms caught her without a moments pause, keeping Sam’s head away from the marble floor that could’ve done serious damage. She wriggled in the grip of a man she didn’t know, complaining in muttered curses that this evening was not going well so far. She stopped short when she looked up to see her saviour, forgetting to breathe as her eyes met the sparkling emeralds that were set in his handsome face.

“Are you okay?” he asked, the same voice she heard on the intercom, she was pretty sure, though less crackly in the flesh obviously.

“I think so,” Sam smiled slowly as she was set on her feet at last. “You... I haven’t met you before. I’d remember,” she babbled, immediately wishing she hadn’t.

“Oh, I’m the new guy,” he admitted with a bright smile that Sam felt blinded by, but in a good way, if that made any sense at all. “Connor Mason,” he stuck out his hand to shake and then when Sam didn’t take it, he seemed unsure if he should retract.

“Samantha Harper,” she replied eventually, shaking the stars from her eyes as she finally reached to take his hand and shake it awkwardly.

“I know,” he smiled again. “You told me, at the gate.”

“Right.” She nodded along, feeling so dumb.

This guy was gorgeous! Green eyes, blond hair cut short, and an ear cuff she was surprised he was allowed to wear as a security guard. A good-looking hero type with a potential for a dangerous streak, there was nothing not to like about that as far as Sam could tell. Though he was dressed smartly in dark pants and jacket like all the other security men, it all hung just a little better on him. Sam would lay money he worked out, probably had a six pack under that shirt and tie. She caught herself staring and actually felt a blush coming to her cheeks. Sam never blushed. Oh, man, this was serious!

“Hey, I lose you somewhere?” he asked when he realised her attention had wandered from what he was saying.

“No, no. I’m here,” Sam smiled. “Um, so Connor Mason, you’re new here? Where did you come from?”

“Connecticut, originally,” he admitted, seemingly happy enough to talk to her instead of telling the family she was here or anything else he probably should have been doing. “I got done with college, always wanted to come to the west coast and see how the other half live, so I came to visit with my aunt and uncle. Next thing you know, I’m staying, my Uncle Doug got me a job here and...”

“And here you are,” Sam sighed happily.

God only knew how long they might’ve stood their staring at each other in such a dopey way if T.J. hadn’t come looking for Sam. It wasn’t like her friend to be late at all, and she had thought she heard somebody at the door a few minutes ago. When Sam hadn’t appeared she came out into the hall to investigate and there she was, making googly eyes at the new security guy.

“Hey,” T.J. greeted them, eyes shifting between Sam and Connor when neither really moved.

“Oh, Miss Echolls... D’Amato,” Connor reacted first and not very coherently.

“It’s T.J., Connor. Remember?” she prompted him to call her by her informal name, as she did with all the staff.

“Right.” He nodded once. “I, er... I should be getting back to....” he jerked a thumb over his shoulder then practically turned and ran.

Sam watched him go until he was completely out of sight, then looked to T.J. and squealed loud enough to bust her friend’s eardrum.

“Geez, Sam,” she complained, but laughed at the same time. “Pretty sure only dog’s heard that last part.”

“Teej, why didn’t you tell me about Mr Hottie Security Guard?” she asked, still grinning.

“You do know he has a real name and that’s not it, right?” said T.J. as they walked back down the hall. “Connor has only been here a week and I really didn’t think you needed to know about staff movements.”

“Not usually,” agreed Sam, looking back over her shoulder to see if she might catch another glimpse of Connor, even though she knew he was long gone, “but his movements? Those I need to know about!”

T.J. rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh. It was a little over the top perhaps, but that was Sam. On the upside, at least she finally stopped drooling over Logan. Maybe she should encourage her friend to like Connor, T.J. considered. It had to be better than constantly having to save her Dad from her BFF’s amorous advances. So much better!


	4. Clemmons talks with T.J. (during Chapter 27)

T.J. was not massively impressed when she got a note in class to say she had to see the Principal after the last bell. Clearly Mr Clemmons wasn’t just going to let her new found fame slide on by like some of the other teachers. Unfortunately, T.J. wasn’t entirely sure how the guy would react to this. There were other famous kids in school, well, fairly famous anyway. There Dad’s were big in business or their Mom’s had been models before marriage. Nobody had a movie star father as far as T.J. was aware so it was difficult to know how things would go down exactly.

The administrator told her to go on into the office after barely a minute’s wait. Sam wished her BFF luck and sat down to wait, and T.J. headed in to see Mr Clemmons. He smiled when he saw her, asking her to close the door and come sit down.

“So, Teresa Jane...” he said, glancing up from his desk in time to see her awkward look. “Sorry, T.J.” he amended, momentarily forgetting that she much preferred that shortening. “Well, that was quite the revelation yesterday.”

“Yeah, I really agree.” She nodded along. “I mean, who would’ve thought Darcy shot Mercedes?” 

The look on Mr Clemmons face was priceless, and T.J. knew she really shouldn’t have messed with him. She bit her lip and forced back a laugh, making herself appear innocent as anything when she continued.

“Oh, we’re not talking about Sunset Nights?” she checked, referring the soap opera popular amongst her class-mates.

“T.J.” her name came out like a warning and she let out a long breath in response.

“I’m sorry, sir. I guess I might be using my Mom’s usual tactic, covering the awkwardness with humour,” she apologised sincerely.

“Actually that was really more your father’s forte,” the Principal told her, trying not to smile as he shifted the papers on his desk.

“I didn’t think... Oh, you mean Logan,” said T.J. suddenly understanding.

Avoiding the topic had been so much easier than talking about it, but it seemed there were no good choices here. The world knew she was Logan Echolls daughter, and that included the faculty of Neptune High. It was still going to take a while for T.J. to think of Logan when anyone referred her Dad. Her brain still automatically went to Leo for the moment.

“T.J. I just want you to know that... that we’re here to support you,” Mr Clemmons began to explain then, putting on that face he had for when he was trying to be sympathetic and understanding - it never quite came off. “If you have any problems with the other students or feel you’re being treated differently...”

“I really don’t expect to be treated the same,” she said then, sure she shouldn’t have interrupted but realising too late that the deed was done. “Like you said, kind of a revelation, for me as well as everybody else.”

“Of course.” He nodded some kind of understanding, “but you can rest assured, T.J., that neither myself nor any other member of Neptune High’s faculty will treat you in any special way just because you have been proven to be the biological daughter of a celebrity. As you are aware, many of are students are well known for various reasons and some do have more affluent families than others,” he told her. “This does not mean a high grade or an excused absence can be bought,” he said firmly.

“Mr Clemmons!” T.J. gasped in genuine shock, the kind that Veronica would’ve had to fake back in the day. “You know I would never...”

“I do know that,” he assured her. “At least I’m pretty sure I do,” he amended, staring at her like a bug under a microscope for a moment.

T.J. shifted uncomfortably in her seat and yet she wasn’t as freaked out as she might’ve been before. People kept fixing her with that same look today, trying to see the genetics that had been hidden so long. Some said she looked a lot like Logan, others that they couldn’t see it at all. T.J. was never sure which one pleased her more, and vowed not to think on it too much, though she did wonder which side of the line Mr Clemmons would fall. It was a pleasant relief when he backed off without passing comment at all.

“Mr Clemmons, I’m the same person I was last week,” T.J. assured him then. “I know this whole situation is weird, believe me, it’s freakier to me than anybody, but I am still me. I just wanna go to class, study hard, and leave here in two years with a diploma in my hand. That’s all,” she said definitely

He knew she was telling the truth. As much as Veronica always gave him trouble after Lilly Kane’s death, she had a good heart and a sharp mind. All her unexcused absences and minor indiscretions aside, Van Clemmons always knew the young P.I. would graduate on time and with flying colours. Logan was a different story, but he had scraped through in the end, and Mr Clemmons was as proud to have him in that graduating class as anyone. Those two young people went through so much back then. T.J. was living a dream in comparison, even if her world had been somewhat thrown upside down when she realised her father was not the local sheriff but a celebrity that any self-respecting movie-goer could recognise with ease.

“I only say all this T.J. so that there are no misunderstandings going forward,” he told her, with a smile she could tell was genuine enough. “We treat all students equally in this school, despite what some think. I want you to feel at no more advantage or disadvantage than your class-mates following the revelations of yesterdays press conference,” he assured her.

T.J. smiled at that too. He really was trying to be kind to her and she appreciated it. Must be weird for a Principal to have such a diverse mix of students in a school and keep the peace the way he did. Of course, from the way her Mom, Logan, Aunt Mac, and Uncle Wallace told it, he’d been there long enough and certainly had plenty of practice back in their day.

“It’ll be cool, Mr Clemmons,” she said then, nodding her head positively. “I swear, if I have a problem, I won’t take it out on school property or join a gang,” she smiled too sweetly, every inch the product of Veronica Mars and Logan Echolls in such a moment.

“Very well.” The principal nodded once. “Now, get yourself home and to your studying, young lady,” he advised.

“Yes, sir,” said T.J. dutifully as she got up from her seat and turned to go. “Thank you, Mr Clemmons,” she added fast before she slipped out of the door.

Just a few paces away T.J. could see Sam and Antonio. She could hear them yelling about her and already knew she was about to be in way more trouble with her friends than she ever had been with Clemmons.

“Oh, great,” she sighed, heading once more into the breach.


	5. When Amy Met Leo (between Chapters 20 & 21)

“Ooh, incoming,” said one deputy to the other as he glanced up and spotted the pretty blonde that just walked into the station.

No doubt, she was a Class A hottie, the hot librarian type that was probably an animal in the bedroom. Deputy Clark got up from his seat and strolled on over to the counter with his most charming smile in place. At least he thought he was charming, Amy couldn’t help but think it was a little bit creepy somehow.

“Good morning,” she smiled politely anyhow. “I need to speak with the sheriff please.”

“Well, who should I say is askin’ after him?” asked Clark, oozing that Southern charm he brought up with him from Oklahoma.

Amy ought to be flattered. She was, in a way, except this guy was probably ten years younger than her, and all kinds of over-the-top. She was used to forward men, working in the industry she did. Rich and famous guys, sometimes even the women, thought she was there to be used like any other facility at a party. Logan wasn’t like that, not all celebrities were wired that way, but enough that Amy didn’t so much care for the forward type anymore. Clark really didn’t stand a chance.

“You can tell the Sheriff that Amy Summers, Logan Echolls personal assistant, is here to see him on some urgent business,” she said with a polite smile. “You could also advise Sheriff D’Amato that having his deputies drool on the front desk is not attractive.”

When another deputy failed to hold in a chuckle at her remark, Clark shot his supposed friend a dirty look. Amy bit her lip and waited, hoping that at this point she might actually get to see the man she came here to meet with. She was on a clock after all, lots to do before the sweet sixteen party to end all parties. Sure, Logan and Veronica were dealing with most of the details, but hers was the behind the scenes work, security for one, which was why she was here.

Thankfully, Clark pushed off the desk then and went towards a back office that Amy presumed was the Sheriff’s own. She checked her watch and then the tablet that had been tucked under her arm up to now. A sigh escaped her lips as she waited, resisting the urge to tap her foot like a cliché.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” said Deputy O’Neal, the laughing guy from before, as he approached the desk. “Clark just thinks he’s smoother than he is. He’s not actually a bad guy.”

“It’s fine, really,” she smiled, glad when she realised the door to the Sheriff’s office was now opening.

Out came Clark, followed by a man that could only be Sheriff Leo D’Amato. One thing was clear in Amy’s mind - this guy was not at all what she was expecting. She knew very little actual information about Leo except for what Logan had told her. He was Veronica’s ex-husband, an old boyfriend who she had originally dated before her relationship with Logan had even began. They had remained friends, as they still were now, and T.J. had been raised believing Leo was her real Dad. All this was somewhere in Amy’s head, and yet all she could think right now was how hot Leo was for a supposedly older guy. He definitely had a few years on Veronica, Logan had said as much, and yet he didn’t look his forty years, not at all balding or suffering middle-age spread or anything. He was a fine specimen of a man, that was for damn sure, and he realisation of it quite threw her of her game.

“Miss Summers,” he said quite coolly.

Amy didn’t mind so much. She understood that anyone connected to Logan was likely to get a frosty reception.

The truth was that her boss hadn’t actually done anything wrong in this scenario. It was Veronica and Leo who had kept Logan’s daughter from him. Of course, it wasn’t Amy’s place to take sides. In any case, just so long as the Sheriff possessed eyes like those and was laying them on her, she couldn’t find a way to argue about anything that had happened in the past.

“Hi,” she said suddenly when she realised she really ought to have spoken by now. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sheriff,” she told him, offering a hand to shake.

“You should really just call me Leo,” he replied with a smile that she was sure could break a thousand hearts given half the chance. “After all, aren’t we almost family somehow?” he said thoughtfully.

They both knew that wasn’t quite right, and yet it made sense in a weird way. Amy just laughed lightly at the semi-joke, following Leo to his office. He offered her a seat and a cup of coffee if she wanted it, which she graciously accepted. The too-smooth Deputy Clark was sent for the drinks, and the door closed in his face before he could argue.

“So, how can I help you, Miss Summers?” asked Leo as he took his seat behind the desk. “I assume you’re not here to report a crime?”

“You assume correctly,” she told him, referencing her tablet. “You know, of course, that Logan and Veronica are now hosting T.J.’s party at the Echolls house,” she said, without looking up. “I’m here to finalise some security arrangements with you. Of course, there are plenty of private security employed at the house, and extra guards will be posted on the perimeter, checking I.D.s, watching out for trouble...”

“You’re making my daughter’s sweet sixteen sound like a military operation, Miss Summers,” said Leo with a look she couldn’t read.

He had referred to T.J. as his daughter, even though they both knew it was a lie. There was no way she was going to pick up on that, and chose instead to focus on both his question, and moreover the way he referred to her.

“Please, you should call me Amy if I’m calling you Leo,” she told him. “And whilst this isn’t exactly a military operation, I know that you want your daughter to have the highest level of security on one of the happiest nights of her life,” she said smartly. “I want to keep T.J. safe, Leo, we all do. That’s the only reason I’m here.”

He couldn’t argue with her. There was no bad in what she was saying, not a single point to disagree with. He did want Teresa Jane to be safe, and to have a really great party. Amy seemed decent enough, and it didn’t hurt that she was a beautiful woman who was probably ten years younger than him, and yet smiling like it was going out of style every time she glanced his way. He had noticed, whether he was meant to or not, and allowed himself to take a good long look at her when she was distracted by Clark handing her a cup of coffee. There was no downside to the view, even if he felt vaguely guilty for enjoying it. He’d been broken up from Veronica four years now, and Amy was just Logan’s assistant, unattached as far as he knew. There was nothing wrong with what he was doing really, expect it made him feel a little like a dirty old man.

“Are you okay?” she asked when she caught him staring with a really odd look on his face.

“Yeah, sure,” he said quickly, snapping himself out of a daze. “Um, if you have all this security in place for the party...?”

“Then why am I here?” she finished for him. “I was hoping we could set up a direct line to the station, just in case of emergency. Also, if we need any kind of licence or special type of permission for an event of this size, I wanted to clear that up sooner rather than later.”

“I don’t see any of this being a problem,” Leo confirmed with another winning smile that made a strange feeling pass through Amy that she’d rather not contemplate right now. “And y’know, Amy, I really appreciate this, that you’re including me in the decisions. Maybe you would’ve done it anyway, since I’m the Sheriff, but... well, I appreciate it anyway,” he told her, leaning over he desk towards her.

“You’re welcome, Leo,” she told him, and this time the smile wasn’t just polite it was entirely genuine, and they both knew it.

A moment that might’ve been something was broken in a second as a buzzing started up in Amy’s ear. Immediately she excused herself to accept the call and began talking quickly and quietly to her boss. She was gone from the station inside a minute and Leo sighed as he watched her leave, a barely touched cup of coffee abandoned on the corner of his desk. It was starting to feel as if it were his destiny in life to watch women walk away from him, towards Logan Echolls.


	6. Logan & T.J, re: Echolls family (during the time lapse between Chapters 34 & 35)

“Did I mention that this is the coolest house ever?” said T.J. with the biggest grin on her face as she climbed out of the pool.

It wasn’t a usual activity of hers, but it was the Summer break, the weather was hot and she was the only one amongst her closest friends to have a pool. They were planning a party, and T.J. had been practising her dives and such before Antonio saw her.

“Logan?” she prompted when he didn’t answer her, going so far as to wave her hand in front of his face.

Between that and her shadow falling on him where he laid on the lounger, T.J. managed to get his attention. Logan propped his sunglasses up on the top of his head and looked up at his daughter. He looked different, almost wrong somehow. Logan was usually a pretty upbeat guy with a wicked sense of humour that T.J. and her mom generally shared. Right now he looked sad, overly thoughtful perhaps.

“Are you okay?” she asked, sitting down on the edge of Veronica’s abandoned lounger and wringing out her hair a little bit. “You look weird.”

“Thanks, kid,” Logan joked, finally finding a smile, but he still didn’t look quite right.

“You know what I mean,” she rolled her eyes.

“Yeah,” her father sighed, pulling himself forward and sitting up some to face her. “Sometimes I guess I just get thoughtful. This house, y’know some of it was rebuilt, but mostly it’s the way it was when I grew up here.”

He looked out across the pool and the grounds beyond with this strange wistful look that showed even though he had to squint against the sun. T.J. kind of wished her Mom hadn’t had to skip out for an hour or two to help Grandpa Keith with a case. She would know what to say right now, whilst T.J. herself was at a loss.

“Growing up here was a blast though, right?” she tried hopefully, wishing she hadn’t within seconds as a hollow laugh escaped Logan’s lips.

“Sometimes.” He nodded a little. “Sometimes it was good but... Well, nobody’s life is perfect, huh?” he said, getting up to walk away.

T.J.’s hand on his arm had him sitting back down again very quickly. He looked at her and saw way too much Veronica in her eyes. She wanted to know what was up here and she wasn’t giving in until he explained. It was the very last thing Logan wanted to do, and yet on some level, the kid had a right to know what her family tree really consisted of, even if the picture the stories painted wasn’t pretty.

“How much E!Hollywood do you watch?” he asked with a smirk that came so naturally.

“Some,” she admitted. “But that’s not the real question you want me to answer,” she told him rather than asked because she was smart enough to know already that she was right. “You want to know how much I’ve seen about you, about your family.”

“Your family too, sweetheart,” Logan told her with a wry smile. “I’m sorry. Honestly, T.J., if I could cut them out, especially him, I would.”

He rubbed his forehead as if he felt a headache coming on. The sun could’ve caused such a thing but T.J. already knew that wasn’t it. Thoughts of the past, the big nasty black memories that gave Logan nightmares she wasn’t supposed to know about. He never talked about his parents, only vaguely in passing when he had to. She knew no true stories of his life with Lynn, Aaron, or Trina, and dare not ask herself, at least not until now.

“You can’t change the past, this family knows that best of any,” she reminded him, very much a grown up right now despite her age of just sixteen. “And hey, you turned out okay, and so did I. This family tree gets better on the way down, right?” she smiled, though the joke didn’t quite come off.

“T.J. you are the very best apple to fall from this tree, don’t forget that,” he told her seriously, at which she very nearly blushed.

“Doesn’t mean the roots aren’t there, rotten or not,” she said sagely. “I don’t wanna pretend they don’t exist Logan. Aaron and Lynn, they can’t have been all bad. They made you, and you and Mom made me. That has to count for something.”

Logan found a genuine smile for that comment. She really thought enough of him to believe he was genuinely a good person. Not many shared that opinion, but he was so very glad his daughter was one of the few, in spite of everything.

It was true enough that his parents weren’t all bad. It was a close run thing with his Dad maybe, but Mom had been okay for the most part, until the abuse got too bad and she relied so heavily on pills and booze. Logan wracked his brain for the happy childhood memories, but everything he had started light and turned progressively darker as they went on. Every Christmas celebration, birthday party, or happy occasion, they ended the same way, with pain and heartbreak, usually at the hands of Aaron Echolls.

“If my Mom were here now,” he said eventually, “God, she would love you,” he smiled nostalgically. “She wouldn’t love that she had to be called Grandma, that’s for sure, but she would’ve loved knowing I had a daughter as smart and beautiful as you, Teresa Jane.”

“You think she would’ve wanted to spend time with me?” asked T.J. with genuine interest, her elbows propped on her knees and hands under her chin as she listened intently. “What would we have done?”

“Oh, there would’ve been shopping. Mom was good with shopping,” he laughed lightly. “Spa days and tennis lessons... She would’ve wanted you to be a lady, I think, but she was fun too. She would’ve been the coolest grandma in town, and looked the youngest of all of them, whether she was or not.”

“And Aaron?” she asked shakily. “I mean, if he hadn’t... If he wasn’t...?”

“A pervert and a murderer?” Logan all but spat, hating that he saw T.J. flinch out of the corner of his eye. “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he said, reaching a hand to her shoulder then in some kind of apology or comforting gesture perhaps. “The fact is my father was not a good person. I don’t have a single childhood memory with him in that didn’t end badly, and I’m glad you never have to meet him, seriously.”

“I know.” She nodded, feeling stupidly tearful. “But honestly? I’d like to have met him.”

That shocked Logan to the core and it showed on his face.

“Oh, not to play doting granddaughter, no way,” she said vehemently. “I’d want to meet him so I could tell him exactly what I think of him, and to show him how great you turned out in spite of every awful thing he ever said or did to you.”

She wasn’t expecting the strange laughter that escaped Logan’s throat or the way he pulled her up from he seat, wrapping her in the big towel she’d been sat on and hugging her close. It was a surprise but not an awful one, in fact it felt really good.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you, T.J.,” said Logan, kissing the top of her head. “But I’m glad about whatever it was.”

T.J. didn’t know what to say to that, or what to do really except hug her father back for as long as he wanted. Logan was a good guy, even if she was still getting know him yet. She hadn’t just said what she had to make him feel better, she meant every word. He really had turned out well considering all he had been through, especially at the hands of Aaron Echolls.

“There must’ve been good family too, right?” she said, lifting her head up to stare at him. “Your grandparents, maybe? Aunts and Uncles?”

“I didn’t know any of them all that well,” he admitted. “Honestly? In the absence of any real family here, I kinda built my own. Your Uncle Dick and Aunt Mac, your Mom and Grandpa Keith. They’re my family, always.”

T.J. could understand that. She wasn’t blood related to any of the people she called Aunt and Uncle, but they meant as much to her as anyone ever could. Sometimes family wasn’t blood and DNA, and sometimes, like right here and now with her and Logan, it really was.

“So, do I get my swimming genes from you?” she asked then, with a grin as wide as her face would allow. “I mean, Mom is good but never as fast as me, and you were the surfer dude, right?”

“Hey, drop the past tense, missy!” he told her with a chuckle. “I still am a surfer dude!”

“Cool.” T.J. nodded pulling out of his arms. “In that case, race you to the far end and back?”

Logan barely opened his mouth to answer before she dived in, splashing him all over, and cheating her way into a head start. Oh, there was no doubting for a moment that she was his daughter, Logan thought, as he dived in the pool after her. No doubt at all.


	7. LoVe stories for T.J. (during the time lapse between Chapters 34 & 35)

“You’re wincing, I can feel it,” said Veronica, her head on Logan’s chest as they watched some terrible movie on TV.

“This movie is awful,” her boyfriend told her. “Pretty sure it’s a remake of a remake of the least successful thing on my own list of acting credits.”

“Hmm, was that the thing you had Mac permanently removed from your IMDb page in such a severe way that no-one can ever put it back?” she checked, sitting up a little so she could meet his eyes.

“The very one,” he agreed, kissing the end of her nose.

Veronica smiled at their shared joke, but more so because she knew what Logan was trying to do here. He couldn’t really believe for a moment that she was buying the crap he was selling. His wincing had nothing to do with the movie, even if it was dire. It had everything to do with the fact T.J. was making cute on the phone with her boyfriend.

“Ah, the girlish ‘I’m in love’ laugh,” sighed Veronica, even as Logan flinched one more time at the sound. “I remember it well.”

Logan didn’t say a word, just made a low grumbling sound that his girlfriend tried her best not to laugh at. He was being ridiculous about Antonio, and whilst it didn’t help that he was Weevil’s stepson and a biker, Veronica was pretty sure Logan would be just the same with any boy T.J. decided she liked. It was nice, fatherly in a way she never thought Logan would get the chance to be. As much as it was awkward to have him growling at even the very thought of their daughter’s romantic life, it was incredibly sweet too.

“I can’t believe how Papa Bear you’re being about this,” she giggled, pausing the movie and making Logan look at her. “Antonio is a nice boy. He gets good grades, he’s never in trouble. That’s more than I can say for some of the guys I dated in high school,” she said with a smirk.

Logan scoffed at her gall, and almost immediately started up a play fight that had the pair rolling around on the couch like teenagers. T.J. so wished she hadn’t walked back in right in the middle of that.

“Eeew,” she wrinkled up her nose and looked away. “Offspring in the room, so not needing to see that!” she insisted, even though it was kind of cool in a way to know her parents were so into each other, even at their age.

“I would apologise, but first off, we’re the parents, we don’t have to do that,” Veronica joked. “And second, we would not have been getting frisky if I didn’t have to expend all my energy trying to keep Logan’s mind off your romantic life,” she told T.J. with a look. “He hit growl mode again,” she rolled her eyes.

“Seriously?” T.J. sighed as she flopped into the armchair. “Logan, Antonio is a good guy.”

“That’s what I said,” her Mom agreed. “I also pointed out that my own high school boyfriend choices were much worse. I confess, I had a bad boy thing!”

“I’m sorry, you _had_ a bad boy thing?” Logan smirked. “Because I’m of such exemplary character now.”

Veronica considered that a moment, and then recalled the photographer he almost flattened all of a week ago. Maybe he was still the barely reformed bad boy he had always been. Either way, she did still love him, that much was clear to anyone who knew them, and those that didn’t too.

“Okay, I have a question,” said T.J. getting the attention of both her parents then. “I know you guys met in school when you were like twelve or something, and I know you were friends and dated other people before you finally got together. So, I guess I’m wondering, how’d it happen? I mean if you were just friends, when did you realise you actually, like, loved each other?”

“Honestly?” said Logan, looking between his daughter and his girlfriend a moment. “Um, I’m pretty sure a part of me knew from the day I met Veronica that she was the one for me.”

T.J. grinned and looked to her mother for a reaction. Seriously, she had never seen her Mom looked that shocked.

“When we were twelve?” she gasped, staring at Logan liked he just said that up was down and black was white. “I never knew that,” she smiled then, feeling so strangely embarrassed and emotional.

Perhaps this was something that shouldn’t have been discussed in front of T.J. At the same time, she kind of liked that she had been here to see this, to hear the truth of how her parents had come to be in love. Of course, if Logan had fallen the moment he met Veronica, T.J. still wanted to know when her Mom realised her Dad was the one.

“So, when did it happen for you, Veronica?” asked Logan, looking just a little embarrassed by his own confession now. “When did you know we were meant to be, huh?”

“I don’t know,” she squirmed under interrogation. “Well, we went through our rough times after Lilly, and then...” she found a smile too quickly and Logan was almost afraid of what she might say. “Then that day at the Camelot when you came to my rescue, I think that’s when I realised that behind all the snark, the bongs, and the tire irons, maybe we were just fighting something much deeper.”

T.J. watched her parents staring into each others eyes, both trying not to laugh. She hadn’t a clue what her Mom was talking about bongs and tire irons for. Right now, she didn’t care enough to ask for an explanation. What she really wanted to hear was all about this so-called rescue that had led to the epic Veronica Mars and Logan Echolls realising they were forever.

“You’re so not going to leave it there!” she gasped when the parents seemed quite ready to move on without explanation. “Mom, you at least have to tell me about this daring rescue that made you realise you were in love!”

Veronica bit her lip and smiled too wide. It wasn’t as if she never told T.J. tales of her high school antics and P.I. adventures before. This one had a slightly more romantic end than most, but still, T.J. should hear how cool her Dad could be sometimes, even when he was being a teenage tearaway.

“Okay,” she said, looking towards her daughter.

T.J. pulled her legs up into the chair and hugged her knees to he chest. She looked like an excited kid about to be told a fairytale. Maybe that was what this was like for her, and Veronica didn’t mind that at all.

“So, there was this guy that joined Neptune High, Ben something. Anyway, he was not your average high school student. Long story short, he wasn’t a student at all. This guy was an AFI agent, investigating a bomb threat at the school, which by the way was completely unfounded,” she explained. “You know Mr Clayton who runs the gun shop?”

“Sure, Norris is totally cool!” said T.J. with slightly too much enthusiasm. “Or I can remember to call him Mr Clayton and not like anything about guns,” she amended overly seriously off her parents twin looks of horror.

“Well, Norris was being accused of being some kind of bomber by Ben,” Veronica continued with her story. “At the time, I had no idea Ben was an agent, and when he realised I’d been following him around doing my own investigation, he got jumpy.”

“The asshole kidnapped you, Veronica!” Logan cut in. “Thankfully we were on the phone to each other at the time, and as soon as I realised Ronnie was in trouble...”

“He donned his armour, mounted his white steed and came racing to my rescue,” Veronica mocked just a little because she just couldn’t help it. “Seriously though, I was very glad to see him. He just swept right in there, started knocking this guy into next Thursday. All for little ol’ me,” she sighed like some grateful and overly romantic heroine of a fairytale at her Prince Charming.

“But he was an AFI agent!” T.J. gasped. “You didn’t get in trouble for that?”

“Nah, your Mom made it okay. She does that,” said Logan with a smile. “She found the guys badge just before I got done knocking him unconscious, and then... well, after they talked out their deal, your Mom came out onto the balcony and thanked me for my help.”

The look on Logan’s face, the smirk in particular, told T.J. that the thanks were probably not just verbal.

“You kissed him, huh?” she checked, at which Veronica ducked her head.

“Yes,” she admitted. “I kissed him and then, just when I’m wondering what the heck had gotten into me, he kissed me back and... and I guess the rest is history.” She shrugged.

“Yeah, ’cause you and me, it was just that simple,” Logan laughed. “We’d be here for a couple of weeks, minimum, if we told the entire story of our epic romance,” he admitted.

“I have time,” T.J. said quickly. “Seriously, just keep in PG-13 and I’m good.”

Veronica laughed out loud at her daughter’s gall, enough to rival Logan’s own as far as she could tell. It was kind of cool though, knowing that T.J. wasn’t entirely grossed out by her own parents love story, or freaked out by the idea of her and Logan having been so in love all this time.

“One bedtime story per night, little girl,” said Logan with a smirk of his own. “Otherwise your Mom will get all nostalgic,” he whispered across to her as if it were some big secret. “Honestly, I’m too tired for that tonight.”

It took T.J. a minute, but just as soon as she realised what he was eluding too she literally ran from the room, not-quite screaming.

“I’m going to call my boyfriend back and talk about anything that’s not my parents doing it!” she yelled as she went.

Logan bust up laughing and Veronica wasn’t far behind him. She fell against him on the couch in fits for a few minutes. They were serious again in a second when she realised she was practically on top of him and this was oh so familiar. So many years gone by and here they were again, rolling around on the couch in the same house, like the teens that shared their first kiss on the Camelot balcony.

“What you did then was bad,” she said softly. “You’ve probably caused some kind of trauma in our daughter’s brain.”

“She’ll survive, just like we did.” Logan shrugged, reaching up to tuck Veronica’s hair behind her ear. “Besides, I can’t help myself. I’m the bad boy remember.”

“Oh, I remember,” she agreed with a smile as she kissed him deeply and got lost in the moment.


	8. T.J. & Antonio Face Neptune High (after Chapter 33)

T.J. never knew it was possible to have this many mixed emotions. The past couple of weeks she had really gone through some stuff, but this still felt different. Right now she was both excited and terrified about facing Neptune High after her little escapade on the back of Antonio’s bike yesterday. It shouldn’t matter to her what anybody thought, she coped pretty well when everybody judged her on the movie star father she knew nothing of until recently. The 09ers suddenly loved her then, whilst many of the less privileged started to wonder if she would still want to know them. T.J. was determined not to change, and yet she knew it would be almost impossible not to, if only a little bit.

One thing had changed since she last set foot in the high school, and that was her status as single. T.J. had a boyfriend now. Antonio Juarez was due to come pick her up in the next five minutes or so, and it was the thought of him that was setting her heart beating faster.

“Just breathe,” she told herself as she glanced into the mirror.

She looked fine, as good as she ever did, T.J. supposed. It was strange but suddenly she was wondering if she was dressed right. Antonio didn’t like her for her clothes, that was just dumb. It was a lot deeper than an attraction based on looks, it had to be. He had called her last night, as promised, and they talked for hours, probably much later than they should have. At this point, T.J. felt like she knew him as well as she knew anyone, and yet the thought of heading into school with him today still felt strange and enough to make her heart hammer in her chest.

Taking a deep breath, T.J. grabbed her bag and headed downstairs. Her Mom and Uncle Wallace were already in the kitchen finishing up breakfast.

“You really didn’t leave yourself a lot of time to eat, honey,” Veronica pointed out as she handed a plate to her daughter.

“I’m not sure I can,” she frowned at the eggs that seemed to stare back at her and dare her to eat them.

“Gotta have your strength, T-girl,” said Wallace like the true parent he was these days. “’Course, I understand if there’s no room for eggs when all them butterflies are already dancing around in your stomach” he smiled. “Young love, huh? I remember how that feels.”

“Nobody said love,” his neice blushed profusely. “Antonio and me, we just...”

“I know.” Wallace nodded in understanding when T.J. fought to find any words to describe what she meant. “For what it’s worth, I hope it all works out for you.”

“Me too,” agreed Veronica. “I know how Logan feels about Weevil and the PCHers, and trust me he has his reasons,” she said definitely. “But Antonio seems like a good guy, and just so long as he treats you how he should, I have no problem with you two dating,” she smiled.

“Thanks, Mom,” T.J. grinned at that, reaching to hug her mother.

She just managed to plant a kiss on Veronica’s cheek before she heard a motorcycle engine outside and bolted straight for the front door. T.J. called a quick ‘see you later’ over her shoulder to her Mom and Uncle Wallace, and then she was gone.

Outside Antonio propped up the bike and shut off the engine. He had just pulled off his helmet when T.J came rushing over. She stopped short of the kerb then, unsure how to go on. They really hadn’t established how their relationship worked yet. He helped her escape the paparazzi, they really connected and had pretty much agreed they were a couple now. Beyond that, everything was just a little awkward.

“Hey, babe,” said Antonio as he climbed off the bike and faced her on the sidewalk.

“Hey, yourself,” she replied, trying not to blush for no reason she could really think of at all. “You ready for this?” she asked then. “I mean, facing the masses... together?”

“I will be in about five seconds.” He nodded, with a smile she didn’t quite understand.

“What happens in fi-....?” began T.J., getting no further through her question before Antonio’s lips descended on her own and he kissed her deeply. “Never mind,” she sighed happily a moment later, leaning into the touch of his hand at her cheek.

“Don’t worry so much, T.J.” he told her gently. “The guys will be cool, and your friends will learn to love me, even Sam.” He smirked.

“That might be a stretch,” she rolled her eyes. “But yeah, it’ll be cool,” she agreed, sharing in his confidence and believing every word she was saying because Antonio was on her side... and he just kissed her in such a way as to make her forget what day of the week it was!

“Let’s go,” he said then, placing one more brief kiss on her lips.

Helmets on, they climbed onto the bike together, T.J. happily wrapping her arms tightly around Antonio’s body. Riding with him like this was amazing. She was astounded her parents were okay with her getting to school this way, but then her Mom could hardly judge. She had ridden on Uncle Weevil’s bike plenty of times, and Antonio knew that as well as T.J. Nobody in their families would judge, well, except for Logan maybe. Their friends in school, and those that didn’t care for either of them much in the first place, they were a whole different matter.

The thrill of the journey to school did not mean T.J. felt any the less nervous when they arrived in the parking lot. She was not ashamed to be dating Antonio, not at all, but it bothered her how certain people might react. No matter how much their friends cared about them, neither T.J. nor Antonio could deny that they were not an obvious pairing, and the people they hung out with wouldn’t necessarily be happy to see them together as a couple. It was easy to say they didn’t care about that, it was a whole other thing to mean it.

“I didn’t think anything could get me any more attention than Logan being my father,” said T.J. as she handed Antonio the helmet and shook out her hair.

“Hey, I kinda like that I’m getting you more fame around here than a movie star ever could.” He smirked, unable to help himself as he secured his bike and then turned to face her. “T.J., seriously, you gotta relax. It’s gonna be cool.”

“I know.” She nodded, though she couldn’t quite manage to squash the feeling that every single person here was staring at them, talking about them. “I’m not great at being centre of attention,” she admitted.

Antonio looked around and surpressed a shudder. He wasn’t so sure he was going to love all the attention that came with being Teresa Jane’s boyfriend either, but it was worth it, he knew that much. Reaching for her hand, he pulled her closer and made her meet his eyes.

“If they wanna look, let them,” he advised her. “It’s only ‘cause they’re jealous, right?”

“I guess they must be,” she smiled at his semi-joke, pushing all other thoughts out of her head as she went up on her toes to kiss his lips.

“Okay, okay, break it up. This is a public place, people!” said Sam as she walked over, the grin on her face proving she was deliberately going over the top. “If it isn’t Neptune High’s very own Bonnie and Clyde.”

“Sam, Bonnie and Clyde were bank robbers with a getaway car,” Antonio told her, rolling his eyes. “We were fleeing the press on a motorcycle. Not the same.”

“Whatever, vato,” she rolled her eyes right on back at him though there was little to no venom in her words. “I don’t care who or what you think you are, so long as you’re taking care of my BFF,” she said definitely. “You did good, biker boy,” she admitted then, at which Antonio couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m not sure everybody agrees with that,” said his girlfriend then, making his expression change fast. “Antonio, are they going to make a scene?” she asked as she spotted his PCH buddies headed towards them.

“They better not,” he told her, keeping a firm grip on her hand and walking forward.

The four other bikers continued to approach, their expressions unreadable. T.J. knew she probably wasn’t the type of girl these guys would date or thought suitable for their friend, but she hoped it wouldn’t matter. Antonio seemed determined that they were going to be together come what may, but it would make it that much easier if his friends were accepting.

“Antonio, my man!” said Carlos, putting up a hand to high five with his friend.

“Hey, guys,” he replied warily. “What’s happenin’?”

“Well, apparently, you been playin’ knight in shining leather to the rich and famous,” Tomas grinned. “Not that I blame you,” he added, as his eyes ran over T.J.’s body. 

“Look, if you have a problem with me...” she started to ask, finding a confidence she hadn’t known was there until the words came spilling out of her mouth.

“Hey, you got no problem with us, then we got no problem with you,” said Tomas then, arms spread wide in a gesture of mock-surrender. “You’re Antonio’s lady now, that gets you respect, am I right, boys?” he asked his friends, who all nodded their agreement.

T.J. almost couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It wasn’t that she expected these guys to balk at her being white or even being the daughter of a movie star really. She would never accuse them of anything like that at all. Still, she had wondered if they would try to talk Antonio out of dating someone with such a complicated life, not to mention her tight connections with a P.I. and the law. It was a pleasant surprise that they seemed okay with it.

“One group down,” she whispered near Antonio’s ear as they started to walk into the school building.

“Hey, I got your BFF smiling at me like a crazy person, and my friends are trying not to check you out,” he replied in a low voice. “Who else matters, T.J.?”

She looked up and met his eyes then, overwhelmed by the intensity of his gaze once again. It felt really good, and if anyone around her made comments or stared, she certainly didn’t notice.

“Can’t think of a single person,” she admitted as they headed on down the halls of Neptune High.

Life was good.


	9. Wallace says Goodbye (after Chapter 33 and Deleted Scene #8)

Veronica felt stupidly emotional as she stood in the airport with Wallace. He had visited a few times over the years and she was always thrilled to see him, but every time they ended up here with goodbyes at the airport and it broke her heart a little. She was reminded way too much of the first time he left, not knowing exactly if and when he would ever be back. They kept in touch by phone, email, Skype, but it just wasn’t the same as having him there all of the time.

T.J. was scarcely less attached to her very favourite uncle. Wallace was a figure in her life that she never did want to be without, and that had been true from the day she was born to now. Even as she grew older, she would always want to turn to him when things got rough, when there was something she needed to talk about and her parents just wouldn’t do. He was the perfect combo of relative and friend somehow, and every time he left she wanted to know when his next visit would be. Wallace never really knew, of course, but promised her ‘sometime soon’. It was like a tradition and the conversation was had one more time today as a sixteen year old T.J. who had been newly flung into the public’s gaze reached to hug her uncle tightly.

“Just because I’m all famous now, I still need my Uncle Wallace,” she said near his ear as he rubbed her back. “How long ‘til you come back to Neptune?”

“Sometime soon, T-girl,” he promised with a smile, because he never forgot.

She laughed lightly as they pulled apart, even as tears slid from her eyes.

“Hey, you take care of my girl, Echolls,” he warned Logan, as T.J. moved to stand beside her father. “Both my girls,” he amended, as his eyes shifted to meet Veronica’s own.

“Hold it together, Fennell,” she told him sternly, even though her own expression began to crumble.

“You got it, V,” he promised as he reached for her and gave her the biggest hug. “Y’know you’re gonna be fine, girl. You got everything you need now, your baby girl and your man. What more you need, huh?”

They pulled apart just far enough to look into each other’s face and he knew the words she didn’t dare speak. She needed him, that was what she needed. Her very best friend forever to be here and have her back no matter what. Sure, having T.J. and Logan ought to be everything she needed, plus her Dad and her friends. Nobody could replace Wallace though, he was just special.

“Have a safe trip,” she said with a forced smile.

“’S all good, V,” he promised her, planting a kiss on her cheek.

The announcer told them that the flight was now boarding and Wallace grabbed his luggage. He looked back at the family of three stood there to wave him off. As much as he missed Donna and Toby, it was hard to leave this other family of his behind.

“Hey, good luck with the new baby, man,” said Logan with a genuine smile.

“You too, man.” Wallace winked, before turning to go, awkwardly waving despite the bag in his hand.

Logan laughed at the semi-joke, wrapping an arm around Veronica from behind and not minding at all when T.J. joined in the odd group hug, encouraging his other arm around her. It was weird, in the old days Logan might have been jealous of the woman in his life crying over the loss of another man from her life. Maybe he’d grown up, but more likely it was just because he knew Veronica’s love for Wallace had always been different. He was her brother, that was how it worked. It was strange to think how that came to be.

“You do realise that Wallace wouldn’t even be in your life if not for me?” he said thoughtfully, watching with amusement as Veronica and T.J. both turned to fix him with twin looks of confusion.

“How’d you come up with that crazy theory?” his girlfriend asked.

“Well, if we had stayed friends in high school after Lilly, you wouldn’t have become your kickass self,” Logan began to explain, as T.J. looked between her parents in amusement and bafflement both. “Junior high-style Veronica would never have cut some guy down from a flagpole with a pocket knife in front of the whole school.” He smirked annoyingly.

Veronica couldn’t help but laugh. He was right of course, though what amused her was thinking back to that fateful day when she rescued Wallace and they became BFFs. To think that was when she started to get to know Weevil too, albeit there was a long way between her making a deal with him for Wallace’s sake and them becoming the friends they were now. It was also when she and Logan started on the road to reconnecting.

“Ah, to be sixteen again,” she sighed then, glad of Logan’s arm around her and the kiss he planted on her temple as they exited the airport.

“Huh! You should try it. It’s not always that great!” exclaimed T.J. from beneath her father’s other arm.

“Well, there is a lot to be said for being a grown up,” said Logan thoughtfully, at which both girls laughed heartily.

He let it go, because honestly, they were probably right to laugh. Either way, it was a beautiful sound to his ears. Watching them cry over Wallace leaving, knowing he couldn’t really help, that was the most painful part for Logan. On the upside, it was his job to cheer up his two girls now and he was more than happy to do so.

“Hey, who’s up for ice-cream?” he offered as they headed to the car. “My treat.”

Just as he spoke a plane shot overhead. It was too soon to be Wallace’s ride home, and yet T.J. and moreover Veronica looked forlorn as they gazed at it. Logan was glad when their sadness seemed to break into twin smiles when they realised what offer he just made.

“Oh, he is not as smart as he thinks he is,” T.J. giggled, looking past Logan at her Mom.

“Really, Logan? Offering us ice-cream?” checked Veronica. “You do know how much that’s going to cost you right? The Mars family line are famed for being able to eat our weight in dessert!”

“I remember,” he chuckled as he opened the car door to usher both her and T.J. inside. “I just happen to think you two are worth every cent.”

It might’ve sounded corny, but Logan meant every word. It might be a big adjustment being back in Neptune with Veronica and a teenage daughter he’d known nothing of until now, but he already loved it. He couldn’t think of ever wanting anything more.


	10. Mac tells T.J. her adoption story (during the time lapse between Chapters 33 & 34)

“Y’know, I really do appreciate the help, Logan,” said Mac with a genuine smile.

“Hey, my rich friends are your rich friends... or website client types, whatever.” He shrugged with a grin of his own.

This was a really good opportunity, but Mac knew she never could’ve got it off the ground without Logan’s input. He was giving her some great recommendations and real assistance in starting her business of handling celebrity websites, through which they could connect with their adoring public.

They were just about done with their meeting, and Mac was shutting off her tablet when T.J. appeared in the doorway. She had come over early to get her studying done in peace before dinner with both her parents, but now she clearly had a problem.

“What’s up, T.J.?” asked Logan, looking overly worried somehow.

“I left my bio book at home,” she sighed. “I tried calling Mom to see if she could bring it over when she comes, but it went to voicemail. I’m guessing she’s still working yet,” she explained.

“Okay,” Logan drew out the word as he checked his watch. “Let me just move a couple of meetings around and I’ll give you a ride over”

“It’s okay, I can take her,” Mac offered easily.

She couldn’t help the big smile on her face at the way Logan was willing to alter his plans, probably with some pretty important people, just to help his daughter out. Still, it would be dumb to let him go to so much trouble when she was right there and willing to be of assistance.

“You sure you don’t mind, Mac?” asked Logan. “It’d mean you going back and forth...”

“Hey, she’s my niece,” his friend told him definitely, even though there was no blood bond between them. “It’s really no problem, I swear.”

“And this is why Aunt Mac is the coolest,” T.J. smiled widely as the older woman grabbed up her purse and got up to leave. “Well, one of many, many reasons.”

“Stop creeping, T.J., you already got the ride,” Mac chuckled as she ushered the teen out of the door.

They went out to the car both smiling, and yet in silence. It occurred to T.J. that this was the first time she had been alone with her Aunt Mac since this whole situation presented itself, and she found out about Logan being her real father. She was all aware that Mac knew the secret and kept it from her too, but she had long since got over the fact. She couldn’t blame Mac, Wallace, or Grandpa Keith. She wasn’t entirely sure she could blame Veronica and Leo anymore, it just wasn’t worth it.

“So, how you holding up, kiddo?” asked Mac once they were moving.

She had used the same nickname for Teresa Jane since she was tiny and even at sixteen it didn’t occur to her to mind that she was still being referred to like a child. It was as cool a name for her as Mac was for the woman whose real name was Cindy.

“Pretty good, I guess.” T.J. shrugged. “Y’know, Logan’s cool, and Mom is so happy with him,” she smiled, the expression wavering just a little as she stared out of the window at Neptune rushing by. “Sometimes... it’s still weird,” she admitted then.

Mac understood what she meant more than anyone and they both knew it, though T.J. did not know the whole truth about that particular adoption. If she asked, Mac knew she would tell her. She wondered if today might be the day and was proven right within minutes.

“Does it still feel weird to you? Knowing you’re adopted?” asked T.J. looking over at her aunt.

Mac gripped the steering wheel just a little tighter for a few moments, and then righted herself. She wanted to tell T.J. everything. It couldn’t hurt, after all, she trusted the girl she had been there for since before she was born, and she loved her like the niece she saw her as. It was still a tough story though, and always would be.

“Let’s wait ’til we’re inside, and then we’ll talk, okay?” she said with a brave smile.

They were only a couple of streets away, and it wasn’t long before she pulled onto the drive at Veronica’s home. Mac and T.J. went inside, and immediately the teen ran to fetch her book. Mac was sat on the couch when she came back down and T.J. was duly invited to join her.

“Okay, I’m gonna tell you this from the beginning, because I want you to know about it now,” said Mac, mostly looking down at her own hands in her lap, but occasionally meeting T.J.’s inquisitive gaze. “It didn’t matter before. You were so young and... and you had no idea about your own situation. Now you do, maybe hearing what I went through, what I live with, it’ll help,” she smiled bravely. “When I was sixteen, your Mom looked into my family. I asked her to, because I always thought I was adopted. Then when the real truth came out, well, that was a shock worthy of finding out your Dad is not your Dad but your best friend’s crush, the movie star,” she smiled almost nervously at the weirdness of what she just had to say, and at the seriousness of what came next. “I wasn’t just adopted, T.J. I... I was switched at birth.”

Shock registered on the teen’s face, her eyes going so wide as to swallow up her whole face. Mac never saw such surprise from a girl she always thought was unshakeable, given the things she knew of the work Veronica and Leo both did. Mac was sure T.J. didn’t speak for fully five minutes though there was every chance it wasn’t half that long. Eventually, after trying three times to form words, she managed to ask her next question.

“So, um, do you know who you were switched with?” she asked, doubting the very next second if she should’ve done so, but the words were already said now.

“A girl I went to school with actually.” Mac nodded. “Her name is Madison Sinclair.” 

“The bitch monster from hell?” T.J. asked outright, clearly having heard tales from Veronica.

Mac tried not to react with the laughter she felt rising in her throat but it was hard.

“That would be her.” She nodded. “She’s your Uncle Dick’s ex too.”

T.J. shook her head, trying to take all this in. She simply had no idea all of this had happened. All she knew was Aunt Mac was adopted, she always assumed because her real parents were dead or just couldn’t take care of her. It never once crossed her mind that she was with the wrong parents by mistake, and that there was another woman out there in the exact same predicament. Madison Sinclair, of all people. T.J. knew what an awful person she was too, and she had the parents that Mac should’ve gotten. It all seemed so wrong, except for one part.

“Well, I guess it proves one thing,” she said eventually, finding a real smile for her aunt who herself looked curious. “You and Uncle Dick, you were destined. If he dated Madison, he clearly always should’ve been dating you, because you would’ve been her and she would’ve been you, in a perfect world.”

Mac felt she went crossed eyed trying to follow all of that, but she kind of saw T.J.’s point in the end. It was flawed logic, but it was a sweet thing to say. A silver lining T.J. had been determined to find to a dark cloud. It proved that she loved her Aunt Mac an awful lot, and that meant the world.

“Maybe you’re right,” she smiled, her hand to T.J.’s arm. “It’s a sweet thought anyway.”

There was an odd moment of silent pause then before T.J. looked seriously at her aunt.

“So, does it always feel weird?” she asked, not sure she really wanted the answer, but knowing at least it would be a honest one when she did get it.

“Yes and no,” Mac admitted. “But hey, at least you have both your real parents now, and one more extra who loves you as if he were,” she pointed out, patting T.J’s knee. “You’re the lucky one really.”

T.J. felt bad then. All the pouting and whining she’d done, and yes, she did have her reasons, but Mac had suffered so much more in some ways. She still didn’t have her real family to turn to. That just seemed so wrong when she was such a cool person.

“I’m sorry, Aunt Mac,” said T.J., looking genuinely hurt on her behalf.

“Hey, it’s not your fault,” she assured her, forcing a smile. “And it’s okay, really. The parents that raised me, they love me a lot; my non-biological brother has actually turned from a monster to an upstanding citizen, and I have the best family around me, even if they’re not blood,” she said, feeling just a little tearful talking about.

T.J. didn’t even think about it, she just leant over and wrapped her arm around her favourite aunt, almost squeezing the life out of her. Mac didn’t complain at all, just hugged her back and loved knowing how much this non-blood family of hers really did care.

“C’mon, let’s get you back now,” she said eventually, patting T.J.’s back as they pulled apart. “Before your Dad thinks you’ve been kidnapped... again.” She smirked.

T.J. laughed at the bad joke, then got up to leave. She said something about wanting to get her other jacket and dodged back up the stairs before Mac could hardly blink. When she was finally alone, she noticed the one lone tear that had escaped down her cheek and hastily wiped it away. It wasn’t the loss of her real parents that made her cry, not even having to explain her so-called sad situation to T.J. It was mostly because she was happy with the way her life turned out. Sure, it might’ve been nice to grow up priveleged like Madison, but she could just as easily have turned out as nasty as her if that had happened. As her life was, as many ups and downs as it contained, Mac liked the person she had turned out to be. She hoped that T.J. realised in time that she was genuinely lucky. There was no way for her to be the exact same Teresa Jane they knew and loved if she had been raised any differently. She would learn to appreciate that, Mac knew, because she was a really good person, an integral part of this strange Neptune-based family of non-blood related friends that loved each other like some really families never even managed. Yeah, T.J. would be just fine, because Mac certainly was right now.


End file.
